| Oligotoma saundersii | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Male | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Embioptera |
| Family: | Oligotomidae |
| Genus: | Oligotoma |
| Species: | O. saundersii |
| Binomial name | |
| Oligotoma saundersii | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
| |
Oligotoma saundersii, commonly known as Saunders' embiid, is a species of webspinner, an insect in the order Embiidina, also known as Embioptera.
Adult males of this species have long narrow wings while adult females are flightless. The body of the male is dark brownish-black with a slight yellowish tinge, especially near the joints of the limbs. In the male, the head is paler than the rest of the body, which differentiates it from the otherwise similar Oligotoma nigra . The female is chocolate-brown and the nymphs are much paler, being yellowish-brown. The females and nymphs are difficult to distinguish from those of O. nigra, so they are best identified by association with the male. [2] [3] Like other members of the order, the tarsi of the front pair of legs are enlarged and equipped with about one hundred silk glands. [4]
Oligotoma saundersii originated in southern Asia but has spread around the tropics as a result of human activities. It was introduced into the United States, and its range there now extends from Texas to Florida. [2]
Like other species of webspinner, O. saundersii is very inconspicuous, living as it does in a silken tube that it weaves which is hidden away in a crevice or under the bark of a tree, or other similar humid location. [4]
Researchers established a colony in the laboratory by placing two adult females and some eggs in a container with large flakes of bark behind which they could hide. The insects were supplied with dry goldfish food. Silken tubes were woven by the females after they had settled down, but the insects remained largely hidden, emerging only at night to feed. A male was seen some time later, indicating that the period to maturity was about four months. He produced his own longer tubes on the walls of the container, often remaining half out of the mouth of his gallery during the day, and sometimes venturing forth. The male did not feed, as is normal in this group, and lived for a few weeks. The eggs were laid in the tunnels and disguised within minutes by chewed bits of substrate so that they resembled the frass and substrate particles already adhering to the webbing; the eggs were not guarded by the female but the camouflage may have prevented cannibalism. [3] The next batch of larvae was seen some two months after the male was observed. Before this, the galleries had been expanded, seemingly in anticipation of the larvae hatching. Further expansion of the colony followed. [3]
The Phoridae are a family of small, hump-backed flies resembling fruit flies. Phorid flies can often be identified by their escape habit of running rapidly across a surface rather than taking to the wing. This behaviour is a source of one of their alternate names, scuttle fly. Another vernacular name, coffin fly, refers to Conicera tibialis. About 4,000 species are known in 230 genera. The most well-known species is cosmopolitan Megaselia scalaris. At 0.4 mm in length, the world's smallest fly is the phorid Euryplatea nanaknihali.
The order Embioptera, commonly known as webspinners or footspinners, are a small group of mostly tropical and subtropical insects, classified under the subclass Pterygota. The order has also been called Embiodea or Embiidina. More than 400 species in 11 families have been described, the oldest known fossils of the group being from the mid-Jurassic. Species are very similar in appearance, having long, flexible bodies, short legs, and only males having wings.
The wattle bagworm is a species of moth in the family Psychidae. In southern Africa it is a pest of the black wattle which is grown largely as a source of vegetable tannin. Kotochalia junodi is indigenous to Southern Africa, where it originally fed on indigenous relatives of the wattle.
Trialeurodes vaporariorum, commonly known as the glasshouse whitefly or greenhouse whitefly, is an insect that inhabits the world's temperate regions. Like various other whiteflies, it is a primary insect pest of many fruit, vegetable and ornamental crops. It is frequently found in glasshouses (greenhouses), polytunnels, and other protected horticultural environments. Adults are 1–2 mm in length, with yellowish bodies and four wax-coated wings held near parallel to the leaf surface.
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Harpocera thoracica is a species of bugs from Miridae family.
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Oligotoma nigra, also known as the black webspinner, is a species of insect in the order Embiidina, also known as Embioptera.
Oligotoma is a genus of webspinners, insects in the order Embiidina, also known as Embioptera. The type species is Oligotoma saundersii and the type locality the Indian subcontinent. The males have wings but the females are flightless. Embiids are recognisable by the enlarged front tarsi, which contain a large number of silk glands that they use to spin the threads they use for building the tubes and galleries in which they live.
Oligotomidae is a family of webspinners in the order Embioptera. There are about 6 genera and at least 40 described species in Oligotomidae.
Psychoda alternata is a species of moth fly in the family Psychodidae, commonly known as the trickling filter fly or drain fly. The larva is semiaquatic and lives in the gelatinous ooze associated with leaks of sewage effluent, drains, and in trickling filter systems.
Aposthonia ceylonica is a species of webspinner of the family Oligotomidae native to tropical Asia, Madagascar and Mauritius. In February 2019, a colony of this insect was identified in a greenhouse at the RHS Garden, Wisley, Surrey, England, on the roots of an orchid. It was thought that the insects had been accidentally introduced on plants imported from Thailand.
Rhagadochir virgo is a species of webspinner, an insect in the order Embiidina, also known as Embioptera. This species is native to the Republic of the Congo in tropical West Africa.
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